[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Will the 'USFK Cluster Munitions' Support Ukraine?

Promotion of Indigenous Development of Cluster Munitions for Our Military MLRS
Possibility of Indirect Support for Cluster Munitions Excessively Held by USFK

As the United States is reportedly set to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, there is speculation that it will supply the stockpiles held by the US Forces Korea.

According to foreign media reports on the 7th, Patrick Ryder, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense, stated at a briefing at the Pentagon on the 6th (local time), "The provision of cluster munitions is an issue that the US has long been considering," adding, "If provided, we plan to supply bombs with a low dud rate."

In the movie Steel Rain, there is a scene where cluster bombs explode above the target area, releasing the suicide bombs contained within.

Cluster munitions are bombs that contain multiple smaller submunitions inside a single bomb. After detonating above the target, the submunitions scatter and simultaneously attack multiple targets, earning the nickname "steel rain." They are indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction with tremendous power, and some types have a dud rate as high as 40%, which can lead to civilian casualties.

For this reason, 120 countries worldwide signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in 2010, which bans the use, manufacture, possession, and transfer of cluster munitions.

However, the United States and South Korea have not signed the CCM. The US currently deploys 2.2 million cluster munitions on the mainland and 1.5 million overseas, most of which are held by the US Forces Korea. The US Forces Korea use them in the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) battalion of the 210th Field Artillery Brigade stationed in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province.

Since 2018, the US Department of Defense has decided not to produce or use cluster munitions for the MLRS and has pressured the South Korean military to purchase used cluster munitions from the US Forces Korea. However, the South Korean military has refused to buy used munitions, as it is developing cluster munitions domestically for the next-generation MLRS, "Cheonmu." Consequently, there is a possibility that the US will supply the excess cluster munitions held by the US Forces Korea to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Hanwha Aerospace, which previously produced cluster munitions, established Korea Defense Industry (KDI) in 2020 by spinning off its submunition business in the defense sector, as European countries have tightened investment sanctions against companies producing cluster munitions. The industry expects that developing cluster munitions with domestic technology could generate sales worth around 1.5 trillion won.